Stalagmite-inferred Holocene precipitation in northern Guizhou Province,China, and asynchronous termination of the Climatic Optimum in the Asian monsoon territory

An absolute-dated, bi-decadal-resolution, stalagmite oxygen-isotopic time series from Shigao Cave reveals the evolution of summer monsoon precipitation over the past 9.9 ka BP in northern Guizhou Province, Southwest China. The  18O-inferred climate conditions are divisible into three distinct stages: (1) a maximum humid era from 9.9-6.6 ka BP; (2) a gradual declining precipitation interval between 6.6-1.6 ka BP; and (3) a relatively low precipitation time window after 1.6 ka BP. Consistency of contemporaneous stalagmite Holocene 18O records between Shigao and other caves in the Indian and East Asian monsoon realms support the effect of primary orbital solar forcings on monsoonal precipitation. However, statistical analysis shows a significant spatial asynchroneity of the Holocene Optimum termination in the Asian monsoon territory. The Holocene Optimum ended at 7.2-7.4 ka BP in Oman, located in the Indian monsoon region, and at 5.6-5.8 ka BP in Central China, in the East Asian monsoon zone. In Southwest China, the termination occurred between these periods, at 6.6-7.0 ka BP, and was influenced by both monsoon systems. We propose that this spatially asynchronous ending of Holocene Optimum in Asia may be attributed to sea surface temperature changes in the western tropical Pacific, which is a primary moisture source for the East Asian monsoon.     

Hydrologic and climatic implications of a multi－disciplinary study of the mid to late Holocene Lake Eastern Juyanze

A mid to late Holocene exposure in a recently desiccated lake basin in western Inner Mongolia was inves-tigated with regard to palaeoenvir onmental changes and theoverall climatic conditions in NW China between 2.7 and 5.4 cal. ka BP. High lake levels of Lake Eastern Juyanze were recorded by ostracod assemblages, shell geochemistry and sedimentology between 5.1 and 4.1 cal. ka BP. Relatively bumid conditions and a relatively strong influence of the Asian monsoon are indicated by palynological data for the corresponding period. Lake levels decreased afterwards and short-term regressive events occurred at about 4.1, 3.8 and 3.4 cal. ka BP. The overall trend towards lower lake levels culminated in repeated episodes of desiccation of Lake East-ern Juyanze between 3.2 and 2.9 cal. ka BP, in phase with very arid conditions inferred from the palynological record.Individual regressive events as well as the rapid environ-mental fluctuations of Lake Eastern Juyanze at about 3.0 cal.ka BP were regarded as driven by mid to late Holocene summer monsoon fluctuations, supported by the Dunde ice core record.     

柴达木盆地风成地貌类型与晚全新世古风况恢复

利用遥感图像的风成地貌形态和高分辨率古季风指标, 恢复柴达木盆地晚全新世以来的古风况, 揭示青藏高原抬升时期东亚季风变迁的历史。结果表明, 柴达木盆地晚全新世以来盛行西北风, 同时有少量西风和北风, 主要由亚洲冬季风控制, 夏季风和西风环流的影响甚微。盆地东部沙丘和雅丹地貌记录了末次盛冰期西风环流的风向, 中西部地区的风成地貌指示晚全新世以来盆地发育西北向的亚洲冬季风。青藏高原的抬升阻挡西风环流进入柴达木盆地, 并加强亚洲冬季风, 造成盆地内古风向的改变, 大气环流模式的转变发生在4000 aBP左右, 此时是柴达木盆地气候从暖湿转向冷干的重要节点。     

Abrupt Holocene changes of the Asian monsoon at millennial- and centennial-scales: Evidence from lake sediment document in Minqin Basin, NW China

Considerable research is now focusing on abrupt Holocene changes at millennial- and centennial-scales all over the world. This study shows that the changes in the Holocene summer monsoon can be divided into two main periods, based on climatic proxy records of lake sediments from the Sanjiaocheng section located at the NW boundary of the summer monsoon, Gansu Province. The early and middle Holocene was humid with stronger summer monsoon, while the late Holocene is dry with weak summer monsoon. Detailed results also show a series of millennial- and centennial-scale changes in the intensity of the summer monsoon, with a periodicity of {dy1600} years during the whole Holocene, and with a periodicity of 800 years during the early Holocene. Ten dry events during the Holocene are associated with the weakening of the summer monsoon. These rapid climatic changes may be representative of a global climatic change pattern during the Holocene.     

High-resolution multi-proxy records of Asian monsoon activities from terrestrial sediments over the last 75,000 years

Our research group have investigated chronology and sedimentology of terrestrial sediments including loess-paleosols sediments over the last 75 ka at Lanzhou, northwestern China, and over the last 45ka at Tokyo, central Japan. Based on chronology of high resolution dating of ESR, TL, and IRSL and tephrochronology in these sediments, we investigated to reconstruct activities of Asian summer and winter paleomonsoons by using magnetic susceptibility, color reflectance and eolian dust concentrations over the last 75ka. Relations between standard curves of delta ~(18)O in GISP2 and color reflectance in loess-paleosol sediments of Linxia over last 140 ka shows that color reflectances are good proxy records indicating Asian summer paleomonsoon activity in time and are closely related to standard curve of delta ~(18)O in GRIP since the last interglacial. Also, relations between standard curve of delta ~(18)O in GISP2 and eolian dust concentrations over the last 75 ka at Lanzhou shows the Asian winter paleomonsoon activities have coincided with climatic changes in North Atlantic by GISP2 ice cores, and suggests that response of winter monsoon was rapid in global cooling stages, but slow in warming stage. Other results of our research in terrestrial sediments show as follows; 1) Horizons of Heinrich events from H1 to H4 in loess-paleosol sequences at Lanzhou. 2) Magnetic susceptibility and MS frequency dependent are possible to be available as proxy records for pedogenesis of tile Kanto Loam in Japan. 3) 8.2ka cooling event was recognized in Holocene loess-paleosol sequences at Lanzhou.     

Effect of precession on the Asian summer monsoon evolution: A systematic review

Geological climatic records and model simulations on the Asian summer monsoon climate change induced by insolation forcing of the Earth＇s precession are systematically reviewed in this paper. The presentation of the questions on the mechanism of the Asian monsoon evolution at the precession band, currently existing debates and future research directions are discussed. Since the early 1980s, more and more observed evidence and simulated results, especially the absolute-dated stalagmite records and orbital-scale transient model runs in the last few years, have indicated that the quasi-20ka period in the Quaternary monsoon climate change is caused by precession. However, debates still exist on the dynamic mechanism how precession affects the Asian monsoon. The ＂zero phase＂ hypothesis says that the Asian monsoon is merely controlled by summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere （NH） while the ＂latent heat＂ hypothesis emphasizes the dominant effect of latent heat transport from the Southern Hemisphere （SH） besides the role of the northern insolation. The two hypotheses have separately been supported by some evidence. Although we are cognizant of the importance of northern solar radiation and the remote effect of southern insolation, it has still a long way to go before comprehensively understanding the evolutionary mechanism of the Asian monsoon. In view of the problems existing in present researches of monsoon-dominated climate change at the precession scale, we propose that studies on the environmental significance of geological monsoon proxies, feedback processes in the long-term transient simulations and intercomparisons between observations and modeling results should be strengthened in the future.     

Changes in palaeoproductivity of Genggahai Lake over the past 16 ka in the Gonghe Basin, northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Sequential samples of a 7.82-m sediment core from Genggahai Lake in the central Gonghe Basin,controlled with 12 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C dates,have been analysed for total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents,carbon isotope of bulk organic matter (δ 13 C org),and carbonate content.Plant macrofossils and stem encrustations,derived mainly from the species of P.pectinatus,M.spicatum and Chara spp.,were identified,and they dominated the aquatic plant community of the lake.Alternations of plant macrofossils of Chara spp.and the vascular species reflect the changing productivity of the lake over time.In such a shallow lake,the carbonate content is highly related to photosynthesis of aquatic macrophytes and thus indirectly indicates variations in productivity,consistent with a quantitative estimate of palaeoproductivity.Based on these results,the palaeoproductivity history was reconstructed over the past ca.16 ka.The lake was formed or recharged at 15.3 cal ka BP,as indicated by aeolian sand deposits at the core base.A marked increase in palaeoproductivity occurred from 15.3 to 11.6 cal ka BP.Between 11.6 and 9.2 cal ka BP,a sharply increased water-level,modulated probably by the enhanced Asian summer monsoon,might have exceeded the optimum water depth for macrophyte vegetation,causing a marked decline in coverage of aquatic macrophytes and low palaeoproductivity.The palaeoproductivity appeared to be high in the early stage of the period from 9.2 to 7.4 cal ka BP,and then decreased at approximately 8.6 cal ka BP.The palaeoproductivity sustained an overall high level between 7.4 and 2.1 cal ka BP,and decreased gradually since 2.1 cal ka BP.Our results suggest that the variability of Genggahai Lake palaeoproductivity may be associated with fluctuations of the lake level controlled by the strength of the Asian summer monsoon,probably indicating changes in the Asian summer monsoon.     

A high-resolution stalagmite O-C isotope record from Nanjing and its rapid response to climatic events

Here we discussed rapid response of the cave temperature and vegetation to the four Dansgaard-Oeschger cold and warm cycles during 50-40 kaBP based on results of oxygen and carbon stable isotopic compositions from a stalagmite in Tangshan, Nanjing. It is found that the amount of C₃ vegetation relative to C₄-type declines during the D-O warm events, indicating the decrease of the effective meteoric precipitation. Compared with O-isotope records of the Greenland ice core, the stalagmite record displays a very similar pattern to Greenland ice core record over the decade-century time scale, suggesting that the changes of the East Asian monsoon climate are in accordance with the high-latitude polar climate in the short-term time scale. The age of the ice-rafted H5 event in the stalagmite record, however, preceded that of Greenland ice cores by 2 ka. This out of phase between the remote areas cannot be yet proven because the two time scales were determined from different dating methods.     

A high-resolution climatic chanse since Holocene inferred from multi-proxy of lake sediment in westerly area of China

Multi-proxy data are presented and a discuss is made of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes during Holocene from a 225-cm-long sediment core from Wulungu Lake, located in westerly area of China. The chronology is constructed from six AMS radiocarbon dates on the bulk organic matter. Analyses of pollen, TOC, TN, δ^13Corg, ostracod assemblages and the shell stable isotopes, suggest Holocene climate pattern as follows： temperate and dry （10.0-7.6 cal. ka BP） -warm and wet （7.6-5.3 cal. ka BP） -warm and moist （5.3-3.6 cal. ka BP） -temperate and dry （3.6-2.1 cal. ka BP）-temperate and moist （2.1-1.3 cal. ka BP） -cool and dry （1.3 cal. ka BP-present）. With the climatic change, Wulungu Lake experienced two large-scale retreat （5.3-3.6 cal. ka BP and 1.3 cal. ka BP-present） and an obvious transgression （7.6-5.3 cal. ka BP）. The records of climatic and environmental evolution of Wulungu Lake were in good accordance with those of adjacent areas. It responded to regional environmental change, global abrupt climate events and followed the westerly climate change mode.     

Interconnections between the Asian monsoon, ENSO, and high northern latitude climate during the Holocene

The International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP), which promotes better understanding of the living environment, was initiated in the early 1990s. IGBP and other programs have uncovered much evi-dence that the Earth system is complex and nonlinear, ex…     

Climatic variations recorded by the sediments from Erhai Lake, Yunnan Province, southwest China during the past 8000 a

Erhai Lake is a large lake with important climatic significance in Yunnan Province, southwest China. The multi-proxy sedimentary records from Erhai Lake indicate the 9 stages of climatic changes with the alternation of warm-dry and cool-wet during the past 8000 a. The variations of Asian monsoon systems were the main cause for the climatic changes in southwest China. The warm-dry period was coincident with the intensification of India monsoon and Northwest Pacific Sub-tropical High Pressure, and the cool-wet corresponding to weak of India monsoon and its main rain belt moving back to southwest China.     

Southern Hemisphere mean zonal wind in upper troposphere and East Asian summer monsoon circulation

1 Introduction Variability of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) has been detected by considering roles of El Nino and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, snow cover over Eurasia and Tibetan Plateau, and signals from the soil (namely, the soil temperatur…     

Evidence for Asian summer monsoon precipitation instability of the Younger Dryas phase

The loess and desert transitional zone of China responses sensitively to the Asian monsoon fluctuations. A high resolution loess-dust and aeolian sand-paleosols section records the climatic history of the Younger Dryas. Based upon AMS¹⁴C dating of pollen concentrates and proxy climate indices including magnetic susceptibilty, organic carbon content and grain size, it is demonstrated that the Asian monsoon climate manifests not only cooling as in other regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but also unusual oscillations in precipitation which were probably associated with atmospheric interactions between both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and atmospheric pressure anomalies of topic Pacific Ocean (ENSO).     

Long-term trend and abrupt events of the Holocene Asian monsoon inferred from a stalagmite δ18O record from Shennongjia in Central China

The middle-Holocene was a period of profound cul- ture transitions: the Neolithic culture around Central China[1], Mesopotamia[2] and India[3] all mysteriously collapsed around 4 ka . It is plausible that this civiliza-tion collapse can be contributed to …     

Holocene abrupt climate shifts recorded in Gun Nuur lake core, northern Mongolia

A continuous 7.44 m lake core was successfully drilled at Gun Nuur Lake, northern Mongolia, and analyses on environment magnetic parameters, organic matter content and organic δ^13C were conducted in an attempt to retrieve the Holocene chronosequence of climatic changes based on 6 AMS ^14C dates. We found that the Holocene climate in northern Mongolia has been alternating between cold (or cool)/wet conditions and warm/arid conditions, and also punctuated with a series of abrupt climate shifts. The abrupt climate shifts occurred around 1750, 2800, 4000, 5200, 7200, and 9200 aBP (^14C age), being chronologically correlative to those abrupt climatic events recorded in the high-latitude North Atlantic Ocean. The correlation indicates that the climatic changes in northern Mongolia were linked with those in the North Atlantic Ocean probably via the North Atlantic Oscillation-affected westerly winds. The strength and position of westerly winds might have modulated the Siberian-Mongolian high pressure system (winter monsoon), directly influencing the climate in China.     

Late Miocene–early Pleistocene paleoproductivity variations of the Lop Nor in the Tarim Basin and its implications on aridification in Asian Interior

Extensive lacustrine deposits in the eastern Tarim Basin provide records of climate change influenced by the westerly winds and the Asian monsoon. To char- acterize the evolution of climate change in this region, we analyze elemental concentrations of barium （Ba） from the Ls2 drill core of Lop Nor, a paleo-lakebed located in the eastern Tarim Basin. Biogenic Ba concentrations from this drill core display a large-amplitude oscillation that gener- ally follows a pattern similar to that of Artemisia content and ostracod assemblages, suggesting that is may serve as an index for climate change experienced in the basin. Our results indicate that biogenic Ba is especially sensitive to precipitation. All climatic proxies served in this study vary significantly over late Miocene to early Pleistocene time period. Strong aridification of eastern Tarim in the late Miocene to the early Pliocene may be attributed to a lati- tudinal shift in the westerly winds, which would have resulted in more moisture transported to southern and eastern Tibet. The growth of the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau may have acted as an orographic barrier that blocked moisture sourced in the south from the northern margins of the plateau. We link weaker aridification in the late Pliocene to an increased intensity of the Indian Monsoon.     

Seasonal characteristics of the Indian Ocean Dipole during the Holocene epoch

The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)--an oscillatory mode of coupled ocean-atmosphere variability--causes climatic extremes and socio-economic hardship throughout the tropical Indian Ocean region. There is much debate about how the IOD interacts with the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Asian monsoon, and recent changes in the historic ENSO-monsoon relationship raise the possibility that the properties of the IOD may also be evolving. Improving our understanding of IOD events and their climatic impacts thus requires the development of records defining IOD activity in different climatic settings, including prehistoric times when ENSO and the Asian monsoon behaved differently from the present day. Here we use coral geochemical records from the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean to reconstruct surface-ocean cooling and drought during individual IOD events over the past approximately 6,500 years. We find that IOD events during the middle Holocene were characterized by a longer duration of strong surface ocean cooling, together with droughts that peaked later than those expected by El Ni?o forcing alone. Climate model simulations suggest that this enhanced cooling and drying was the result of strong cross-equatorial winds driven by the strengthened Asian monsoon of the middle Holocene. These IOD-monsoon connections imply that the socioeconomic impacts of projected future changes in Asian monsoon strength may extend throughout Australasia.     

A 60 000-year loess-paleosol record of millennial-scale summer monsoon instability from Lanzhou, China

The 28-m high-resolution Shajinping loess section in Lanzhou on the Chinese western Loess Plateau records a detailed history of millennial Asian summer monsoon change since the earlier last glaciation. Summer monsoon proxies of soil magnetic susceptibility, carbonate content and soil color show that Asian summer monsoon experienced a series of rapid episodic pulse enhancements spanning only ca. 1-2 ka and have sub-Milankovitch cycles of progressive weakening in low frequency domain since ca. 60 kaBP. Soil formation responds to these by deepening colors, accumulating organic matter, increasing biological channels and leaching certain carbonates. The pedogenic degree generally increases with the degree of enhancement of summer monsoon. These may reflect the impact of the last glacial fast climatic change in the North Atlantic region on Asian summer monsoon.     

The reconstruction and interpretations of lake status at 6 ka and 18 ka B.P.in inland mainland Asia

By means of survey of literature through compilations of sedimentological, biogeological and geomorphologic data, the inland lake level changes in arid or semi-arid mainland Asia at 6 and 18 ka B. P. have been reconstructed. The results showed that the lakes from western and northwestern Asia were characterized by very high water levels at 18 ka B. P., but low or intermediate water stands at 6 ka B. P. The high lake level in this region was associated with the southward displacement of westerlies, therefore, the extent of the high lake stand indicated the southern flank of westerlies during the glaciation. Conversely, the lakes from the eastern and southern Asia registered comparative low levels at 18 ka B. P. and significantly high one at 6 ka B. P. The lowering of lake level at 18 ka B. P. was caused by the weakened summer monsoon and the high lake level at 6 ka B. P. by the enhanced summer monsoon induced by the enlarged thermal contrast between land and ocean. The extent of high lake levels indicated the northern boundary of monsoon expansion. Between the above two regions, there is a climatic transitional zone in the Central Asia where the lake behavior was close to that in southeastern Asia at 6 ka B. P. but became similar to that in northwestern Asia at 18 ka B. P. Thus this zone became a transitional sector from the monsoon to the westerlies.     

Late Pleistocene／Holocene wetland events recorded in southeast Tengger Desert lake sediments, NW China

The area along the eastern and southeastern margins of the Tengger Desert, NW China, which is sensitive to the summer monsoon variations, was selected for studying the environmental conditions surrounding the transition between Paleolithic foragers and Neolithic farmer/pastoral-ists. Short cores were obtained from four lake basins in the southwestern Tengger using a hand-driven piston coringdevice. Proxies from these cores were supplemented by ra-diocarbon ages obtained from lake sediment cores, shoreline features and spring mound deposits. Together these records provide evidence of millennial-scale climate change eventsfrom the Pleistocene-Holocene transition to the present.Lake/wetland events, representing periods of more intensive summer monsoon, occur in the records at-12.7-11.6,-10.1, -9.3, -8.0, -5.4, -1.5, and -0.8 ka BP. They do suggest that century- to miliennial-seale climatic cycles are characteristic of the Holocene in the southeastern Tengger Desert although the chronology must be considered extremely tentative.